PARKER GURNETT
Staff Writer
The ending of another season means the arrival of one of the biggest sporting events on the planet, the Super Bowl.
The NFL wraps up their 2023-2024 season on Feb. 11 in Las Vegas with Super Bowl 58.
This year’s Super Bowl will be hosted in its 15th different metropolitan area.
The Super Bowl game itself dates back to 1967 when the first Super Bowl was hosted in Los Angeles.
The first four Super Bowl games were held between the winners of each the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NFL) until the two leagues merged in 1970.
Following the merger, the modern NFL was created with two conferences, the American Football Conference (AFC) and National Football Conference (NFC).
The AFC was made up of teams from the AFL and the NFC had teams from the original NFL.
Fast-forwarding to modern day, the NFL consists of 32 teams in 22 different states. This year’s matchup consists of two teams from two different parts of the country, a matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers.
This match up may sound familiar, as just four years ago, the Chiefs and 49ers met in Super Bowl 54 in Miami.
Perhaps the most notable aspect of this matchup is the comparison between the two starting quarterbacks in this year’s game, Patrick Mahomes for the Chiefs and Brock Purdy for the 49ers.
These two quarterbacks were taken at complete opposite ends of the NFL Draft.
Patrick Mahomes was drafted by the Chiefs at 10th overall in 2017. Brock Purdy, on the other hand, was drafted in the 7th round, 262nd overall, in 2022.
The 262nd overall pick was the final pick in that draft, making Purdy that year’s Mr. Irrelevant.
This matchup represents historical significance, as it is the first time a quarterback taken as the last overall pick in the draft will start the biggest game of the year.
Purdy will look to become only the third Mr. Irrelevant to win a Super Bowl, with the last one being former Tampa Bay Buccaneers kicker Ryan Succop, coincidentally over the Chiefs as well.
Not only is the quarterback’s draft position monumentally different, but so are the contracts they are currently on. Mahomes is currently on a 10-year, $450 million contract, while Purdy is currently playing on his rookie contract worth $3.73 million.
This represents one of the largest contract differences between the two starting quarterbacks in NFL history.
When the two teams met in the Super Bowl four years ago, the Chiefs won by a score of 31-20. Going into the fourth quarter of that game, the 49ers had a 20-10 lead before giving up 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to give the Chiefs the win.
The similarities don’t stop there, however. The Chiefs, being designated as the home team, pick their uniform combination first. They will go with their home red tops and white bottoms. The 49ers will wear their white tops and gold bottoms.
This is the same exact uniform combination as their last matchup four years ago.
Also, Bill Vinovich, the head referee for this year’s Super Bowl, was the head referee in the last Super Bowl matchup between these two squads.
This marks the first time that the head referee has officiated a Super Bowl between the same two teams.
The Super Bowl has always had a history of a special performance during halftime. This year, the halftime show will be headlined by star R&B and pop artist Usher.
Super Bowl halftime performers are not paid by the NFL, so they are performing for free. The headliner has the option to bring other artists on board to perform alongside them during the show.
Speaking of artists, perhaps one of the biggest names in all of music right now is expected to be attending this year’s Super Bowl to watch her boyfriend play in the big game: Taylor Swift.
Swift is currently dating Chiefs star tight end Travis Kelce. She is performing a show in Tokyo the night before the game, so she will be getting back on very little rest ahead of her highly anticipated appearance.
Do you think Swift makes an extremely surprising appearance during the halftime show? Those rumors are swirling around on social media like wildfire.